


The Broken Crown

by CyclonicJet



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 07:04:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15552291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyclonicJet/pseuds/CyclonicJet
Summary: So I'm not entirely happy with this. I never am with my writing. But I'm still new to the whole venture of writing, and the only way to improve is to just keep writing and getting better. So I finished it anyway, despite my trepidation as I worked through it. I had fun writing it though, which is the important thing in the end.





	The Broken Crown

All the stars in the heavens were ablaze. Each one shining nearly as brightly as the full moon. The brightest of them even pained the eye to look at. It was upon the tapestry of blazing lights that painted the sky that Leona gazed, and it filled her heart with unbearable dread. She was not alone in her worries either. Through her connection to the aspects she could feel immense fear amongst them. A terror unlike any she had ever felt had gripped them. She had never known them to know such fear.

The sound of clanging steel rung out next to her. It was the sound of Pantheon crashing down from the sky. He landed upon one of the many jagged peaks of Mount Targon that surrounded her. He too had heeded the call to the mountain. “The time has come then. Our worst fears realised.” he said solemnly.

“So it would seem. All we can do now is brace ourselves.” she said. “His wroth will be great, his vengeance swift and terrible.” Where the other champions were she could not say. They too would have received the summons but had either opted to ignore it, or perhaps more worryingly, been unable to answer it.

A circlet of stars suddenly gleamed brighter than the rest, each one’s luminosity increasing till they all burned akin to the midday sun. The world was bathed in their light for a moment, blinding in there majesty. Then they dimmed and faded entirely. No trace of them were left among there fellow stars. Then from where they had shone, a streak of gold fell.

It soared across the night sky in a great fireball. They watched its descent as it rushed towards the mountain. Unable flee all they could do was stand firm. It slammed into the base of the mountain causing it to rumble violently. Along its many escarpments cavalcades of stone came loose, which descended in a great fury down its slopes. Gazing down into the raging inferno below Leona was filled with her own terror now. Amongst the flames lay a broken and cracked circlet of gold. The crown of Aurelion.

Along its centre helm a great fissure had sundered it near in two. From the helms cleave she could hear the voices of the aspects drifting up the mountain to her, they were wailing in fear. Then the mountain trembled again. But this time it shook with the rumble of laughter. A deep, dark laughter that made Leona’s skin crawl. Looking once more at the heavens she could see now the stars had re-aligned themselves into a new constellation. Taking on the visage of the star dragon himself.

Like an artist smearing paint across a canvas, the stars began to shift. Moving like a snake they crawled down out of the sky towards the world. As they moved closer they dimmed, slowly surrendering there abstract image of Aurelion and making way for the real thing. All the while the laughter still resounded across the land. So intense did it become Leona feared the mountain itself would collapse under its relentless booming.

The laughter then began to fade and a voice rang out in its stead. “Targon.” it drawled. “Long have I awaited this day. Long have you dreaded it.” The valleys and peaks of the mountain reverberated with the force of his voice. “The final act of absolution is at hand. The crimes of your betrayal brought to justice.”

Though he was descending from the vastness of the sky itself, he did not seem to be diminishing in size as he did so. His serpentine form remaining as unfathomably large down in the world as it had been upon the celestial plane. “I will turn the heavens themselves into your funeral pyre. And I will crown it, as you did me, with your own hallowed mountain.”

The last of the descending stars dimmed as Aurelion took on his full majesty. Near as big as the mountain itself, and framed by his own tapestry of stars, he looked practically divine. To any other in the world he might have inspired awe and wonder. To the champions of Targon he inspired only dread.

It was Pantheon who spoke first. “You will find no victory here star dragon! Return to the emptiness of space and be gone with you!”

Aurelion laughed again. “An insect would do well to quarrel less with those able to squash it.” The sound of rushing air suddenly filled Leona’s ears as it sped past her, it was racing towards Aurelion’s outstretched hand. A faint spark of light was beginning to kindle in his palm. It swiftly grew from a flicker to a full blown inferno. A miniature star burning bright.

Lifting it to his mouth, Aurelion blew on it. It launched itself from his palm and charged towards where Leona and Pantheon stood. Leona dashed to the side as fast as she could. Pantheon leapt towards a higher part of the mountain. The star slammed itself against the escarpment in a shower of molten rock, then continued its journey, digging its way towards the heart of the mountain

Only her shield had spared her from the intense heat. Now it served to guard from the shower of red hot pebbles raining down upon her. The mountain shuddered slightly as the star melted its way down, then it rumbled again as Aurelion laughed once more.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a moving blur. Turning to see it she witnessed Pantheon leap upwards towards Aurelion and, with a mighty jerk of his arm, thrust his spear towards the dragon. Almost effortlessly Aurelion caught the spear in one hand and Pantheon in the other. He twirled the spear around between his claws. “Such a crude weapon. It barely deserves the title.” he said snapping it like a twig. Then he covered Pantheon wholly inside his palm and squeezed.

Leona watched in horror, she knew she had to act quickly or he would be soon crushed to death. She had only one option. Though veiled by the shroud of night, Leona had little choice but to call upon the light of the sun. Raising her blade she pointed it at the dragon and willed the light of day to her aid. Despite the curtain of darkness blocking it, the sun answered her call. From the horizon, far out to the east, a light shone like a beacon. It grew in intensity rapidly and then before he could react, slammed into the star dragon.

He roared in fury. She held it as long as she could, but soon enough channeling the power overwhelmed her. She was forced to release the flow. The funnel of sunlight vanished. Staring up at the dragon she found herself his sole focus of attention. “You would seek to wound me with my own creation? You are bold champion. Too bold! Now allow me to demonstrate to you my power!”

* * *

From his maw erupted a torrent of cosmic energy. Aiming it at the champion, it blasted the side of the wretched mountain, reducing a greater portion of it to dust. When at last he closed his jaws he could see the champion was on her knees. Slowly she tilted forward and then collapsed entirely.

In his right hand he could feel the other one still squirming, struggling desperately against his tightening grip. He chuckled to himself. “Is this all Targon can muster!?” he yelled to heavens. “Have you truly diminished so greatly!?”  
His answer came in the most annoying way possible. “Hi!” squeaked a voice from behind him.

He knew that voice. How he had desired for so long to silence it. “You…” he said, his voice laced with disdain. As he turned around he gave one final hard squeeze of his hand causing the squirming to stop, then he tossed the limp form of the champion away. There hanging in the sky above him, leaning out of a portal, was Zoe. The accursed child of Targon. The bane of his existence. “You’ve been a very bad doggy!” she exclaimed loudly.

Free of his shackles he was now able to fulfil his greatest desires once more. The second greatest of which, after the destruction of Targon, was ridding himself of this wretched child. “I will savour every moment I spend tearing you apart.” he said, his voice dripping malice.

* * *

Leona awoke, but her eyes refused to open. Everything hurt. Her mind was foggy and she had no idea where she was. Maybe she had died she thought to herself. Perhaps she had ascended to join the aspects.

Then the sound of a terrible anger reached her ears, followed by the cacophony of a furious battle taking place. Despite the protests of her eyes, she forced them open. She could see the dragon dancing around the sky. He was chasing something, she couldn’t tell what though.

With great pain and effort she clambered to her feet, using her blade as crutch to stay upright. The sound of laughter echoed down to her, but this wasn’t the dragons laugh. This was a high pitched, almost whimsical sort of mirth. There was only one person she knew of who could face the might of Aurelion, and still find merriment enough to laugh.

Sure enough she spotted her. Dancing in and out portals all around the star dragon, she was making it impossible for him to grab her. That explained his rage at least, his roars of frustration booming loudly into the night.

As the mental fog lifted she quite suddenly became aware that her feet were beginning to grow painfully hot. Looking down she could see the mountain beneath her was glowing a dull red. Little rivulets of molten rock were winding there way down its slopes around her. It looked how she imagined a volcano might be like. The star that had tunneled its way inside was melting the mountain from the inside out. She needed to reach-

Her stream of thought was interrupted as the star dragon slammed his hand into the melting mountain. “SQUASHED! YOU ANNOYING INSECT!” he roared.

“Nope! You missed silly doggy!” Zoe said jubilantly from behind him. Staring into the dragon's eyes Leona saw something inside him snap. He had had enough.

A howling gale blossomed as all the air in the area was sucked towards multiple sparks of light forming in the space around the dragon. More and more sparks kept appearing, until at last a veritable swarm of small stars buzzed around him. They span around him randomly, moving in any and every direction. Zoe was forced to end her dance from portal to portal, it had become far too risky to traverse the space around Aurelion now. She instead bounced down and next to Leona.

“Now Targon!” he boomed. “Bare witness to my wrath! Stand as testament, and warning, to all others who would dare to challenge or manipulate Aurelion Sol!”

The multiple whizzing stars orbiting him started to clump as they spun around him, fusing together to form a much larger object. At last only a single one remained orbiting him, a star so vast it could probably level the mountain itself. He caught it in his hands and hefted it above his head. He was going to smash it down on the mountain!

Leona suddenly found her arm being tugged, looking down she saw Zoe was trying to get her attention. “Quickly! Through the portal with me!” she said. A circle in the ground had opened up. Where it led Leona had no idea but it would surely be safer than here. She leapt through it after Zoe.

* * *

 

She popped out the other side and landed in soft desert sand. Gazing around all she could see was dunes for miles. It was unmistakably Shurima. A quick glance around and she found Zoe standing on the crest of dune above her. Walking up beside her Leona could see she was staring out to the west, her eyes intent on the horizon. Following her gaze she could see the dark silhouettes of the mountains that formed the border of Targon in the far distance.

As she stared out into the darkness a blinding light erupted far behind the mountains, it was so bright that spots formed in her eyes. Then the ground shook as tremors stretched out towards them causing her to stumble and fall to her knees. As the spots cleared from her vision she could see a dull glow hovering high above the mountains.

The full weight of what had just happened struck her like a sledgehammer. Mount Targon was gone. The star dragon had obliterated it from the face of the earth. She didn’t know whether to weep, to get angry, or to flee as fast as she could. Even more worryingly she could no longer hear the cries of the aspects’ anguishes. What that meant she was too afraid to imagine.

But before she could form a truly coherent thought on the matter Zoe voiced her own opinion first. “That mongrel will pay for this.” she said with a fire in her eyes. For the first time since Leona had known her, she could see genuine anger in the girls face. It was perhaps the most terrifying thing she had seen all evening, which was certainly an achievement unto itself.

But it helped set Leona’s own resolve. This crime would not, could not, go unpunished. If the star dragon wanted war with Targon, then he would damned well get it.

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm not entirely happy with this. I never am with my writing. But I'm still new to the whole venture of writing, and the only way to improve is to just keep writing and getting better. So I finished it anyway, despite my trepidation as I worked through it. I had fun writing it though, which is the important thing in the end.


End file.
